Posted 13 March 2021
Today is the 150th anniversary of #TheAlfredHospital welcoming its first patient ! Built 1869-71, seems to have had just a central block and one ward block to start with. It was designed by #CharlesWebbArchitect in a kind of Tudor mode, but with plenty of #polychromebrickwork , a relatively early example.
Various wings added over the years often replacing earlier ones until there’s only one original left, the #LinayPavilion, built with funds donated by local timber merchant John Linay in 1885, which included a chapel, now the prayer room. It’s rather hidden behind later buildings, but same style, pretty intact, and on the #heritageregister, and it’s the oldest ‘nightingale ward’ block, ie open and breezy, left in Victoria.
There was a rather cute house (gatehouse?) on the far west the site too, which disappeared in 2010. Photos @library_vic, @heritagecouncilvic, and The Alfred’s website.
Storey of Melbourne 